#94 - Mark Hyman, M.D.: The impact of the food system on our health and the environment
Dr. Mark Hyman discusses his book "Food Fix," arguing that fixing the food system can solve chronic disease, economic stress, and climate change. He details the health impacts of processed foods and gut dysbiosis, the environmental damage from industrial farming, and advocates for regenerative agriculture, policy reform, and individual actions to create a healthier, more sustainable future.
Deep Dive Analysis
15 Topic Outline
The Food System as a Driver of Global Crises
Health Consequences of Processed Food and Metabolic Dysregulation
The Gut Microbiome, Inflammation, and Gut Health Measurement
Staggering Health Statistics and Genetic Susceptibility
Government Regulations and Policies to Counter the Food Industry
Industrial Farming, Climate Change, and Soil Degradation
Regenerative Agriculture: A Solution for Climate and Health
GMOs, Roundup, and Potential Health/Environmental Risks
Impact of Industrial Farming on Farmer Livelihoods
Loss of Biodiversity in Food and the Meaning of 'Organic'
Individual Actions to Affect Change in the Food System
The Role of the USDA and Need for National Food Policy
Top Policy Changes for a Food Czar
Debunking the Vegan-Only Argument for Environmental Health
Differences in Bread and Wheat Products: US vs. Europe
6 Key Concepts
Metabolic Endotoxemia
A phenomenon where a dysregulated gut microbiome and increased gut permeability lead to the absorption of bacterial products and toxins, causing systemic inflammation and contributing to metabolic diseases.
Climate Volatility
A more accurate term for climate change, describing the increased instability in weather patterns, including higher highs, lower lows, and increased frequency of extreme events like hurricanes and wildfires, rather than just a general warming trend.
Soil vs. Dirt
Soil is a living ecosystem rich in organic matter, carbon, bacteria, mycorrhizal fungi, and other organisms, capable of holding significant amounts of water and nutrients. Dirt is dead, lacking these living components, and thus cannot effectively retain water or provide nutrients to plants.
Regenerative Agriculture
A method of farming focused on regenerating soil and ecosystems by increasing organic matter, improving water retention, using crop rotations, cover crops, and integrated animal grazing patterns. It aims to draw carbon out of the atmosphere and restore degraded lands.
Global Energy Balance Network
An initiative funded by Coca-Cola, exposed by investigative journalism, that promoted the idea that all calories are the same and that obesity is primarily a matter of energy balance (calories in, calories out). This network funded research to confuse the public and deflect blame from processed foods and sugary drinks.
Dwarf Wheat
A hybridized form of wheat developed for increased yields and drought resistance, which became prevalent after Norman Borlaug's work. It contains amylopectin A, a 'super starch' that raises blood sugar more than regular sugar, and has more inflammatory gliadin proteins compared to older wheat varieties.
6 Questions Answered
The current food system drives chronic disease, economic stress, climate change, environmental degradation, social injustice, and even threatens national security by producing ultra-processed foods and relying on destructive industrial agriculture.
Processed foods, rich in refined starches and sugars, raise insulin, leading to fat storage, increased hunger, and a slowed metabolism. They also cause inflammation that can dysregulate brain chemistry, uncoupling the decision-making prefrontal cortex from impulse-driven parts of the brain.
Gut health can be assessed through various biomarkers like pancreatic enzyme function, fecal fats, inflammatory markers (calprotectin), IgA levels, short-chain fatty acids, and DNA/PCR analysis of the microbiome. Improvement often involves a '5R program' of removing harmful elements, replacing missing components, re-inoculating with beneficial microbes, repairing the gut lining, and restoring nervous system balance.
The food system is the number one cause of climate change, contributing about 50% of greenhouse gases through deforestation, soil destruction, intensive fertilizer use (releasing nitrous oxide), transportation, refrigeration, processing, and significant food waste.
While GMOs themselves are an uncontrolled experiment, the primary concern is their role in enabling the increased use of chemicals like glyphosate. Glyphosate has been linked to harmful human effects in animal studies, including epigenetic changes across generations and significant disruption of the microbiome, even at doses found in common foods.
European bread differs due to several factors: the use of dwarf wheat in the US (which has a super starch and more inflammatory proteins), the common practice of spraying US wheat with glyphosate at harvest, the addition of calcium propionate preservative in US bread, and the longer fermentation methods used in Europe that alter gluten structure.
24 Actionable Insights
1. Prioritize Whole Foods
To maintain optimal metabolism and overall health, prioritize a whole foods, unprocessed diet over junk food and ultra-processed alternatives. These choices lead to better metabolic outcomes regardless of weight.
2. Beyond Calories In/Out
Shift your understanding of diet beyond simple “calories in, calories out”; recognize that different foods have profoundly different biological effects on your body, even if they contain the same number of calories.
3. Avoid Inflammatory Diet
To support healthy brain function and improve decision-making, avoid an inflammatory diet, as it can dysregulate the brain by uncoupling the prefrontal cortex from the amygdala.
4. Remove Gut Triggers
Begin addressing gut dysfunction by removing problematic elements such as triggering foods (e.g., gluten, dairy, certain grains for some individuals) and addressing bad bugs like parasites, bacterial overgrowth, or yeast overgrowth.
5. Replace Missing Gut Support
After removing gut triggers, actively replace missing elements crucial for gut health, such as fiber, prebiotics, and enzymes, which can be sourced from both food and appropriate supplements.
6. Re-inoculate Gut Microbiome
Support your gut health by re-inoculating with beneficial bacteria through consuming fermented foods or by taking targeted probiotic supplements when necessary.
7. Provide Gut Healing Nutrients
Nourish your gut with specific nutrients needed for healing, including glutamine, vitamin A, fish oil, butyrate, and polyphenols found in foods like pomegranate, cranberries, and green tea, which powerfully support the microbiome.
8. Restore Nervous System for Gut
Address gut health holistically by restoring your nervous system and managing stress, as high stress levels can directly contribute to gut issues like leaky gut.
9. Support Regenerative Agriculture
Influence the food industry and promote environmental health by actively seeking out and supporting companies and products that utilize regenerative agriculture practices. Consumer demand is driving this shift in supply chains.
10. Mindful Food Sourcing
Be highly intentional about what you eat and where it comes from by prioritizing local farmers’ markets, joining a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), or finding regenerative food sources online, possibly by buying in bulk with friends.
11. Use Dirty Dozen/Clean Fifteen
Consult the Environmental Working Group’s “Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen” guide to make informed purchasing decisions, prioritizing organic options for heavily contaminated produce while potentially choosing conventional for less contaminated items.
12. Seek Regenerative Organic Certification
Look for products with regenerative organic certification, a standard that goes beyond basic organic to ensure farming practices actively regenerate soil and ecosystems. This represents a higher level of sustainable and healthy food production.
13. Engage in Personal Food Production
Take direct action to improve your food quality and environmental impact by starting a compost pile, cultivating a backyard garden, or participating in community gardens.
14. Reduce Personal Food Waste
Make a conscious effort to reduce food waste in your household, as minimizing the 30-40% of food typically wasted globally significantly reduces greenhouse gas emissions and conserves resources.
15. Advocate for Food Policy
Recognize and leverage your power as an individual by using your vote and voice to advocate for systemic changes in food policy, influencing government and industry towards healthier and more sustainable practices.
16. Engage Food Policy Action
Become politically active by communicating with your congressmen and senators, and utilize resources like foodpolicyaction.org to track their voting records on food and agricultural policy issues.
17. Advocate for Composting Laws
Get involved in local politics to advocate for municipal composting laws, potentially making it mandatory to divert organic waste from landfills and reduce methane emissions.
18. Eat Diverse “Weird” Foods
Diversify your diet by consuming a wider variety of plant species, including less common or heirloom varieties, to ensure your body receives a broad spectrum of essential phytochemicals, nutrients, and minerals.
19. Choose Organic Wheat
To avoid exposure to glyphosate, which is often sprayed on non-organic wheat at harvest for defoliation, opt for organic wheat products.
20. Avoid Modern Wheat for Gut
Consider avoiding modern hybridized wheat to reduce gut inflammation and the risk of leaky gut, as it contains extra inflammatory gliding proteins compared to older wheat varieties.
21. Be Mindful of Dwarf Wheat
Exercise caution with modern dwarf wheat, as its amylopectin A “super starch” can elevate blood sugar more significantly than regular sugar, impacting metabolic health.
22. Seek Slow-Fermented Bread
When consuming bread, look for slow-fermented options (e.g., sourdough) that undergo a 12-14 hour leavening process, as this method can alter gluten structure and improve digestibility compared to quick-rise breads.
23. Avoid Calcium Propionate
Be aware of calcium propionate, a preservative commonly added to US bread products, and consider avoiding it due to its links to toxic neurological effects, behavioral hyperactivity, and autism.
24. Test Glyphosate Levels
If you are concerned about your exposure to glyphosate, you can send a urine sample to labs like Great Plains Lab to check your personal glyphosate levels.
6 Key Quotes
There's 11 million people that die every year from eating ultra processed food and not enough for the good food. And I think it's an underestimate.
Mark Hyman
The adult in the room, the prefrontal cortex, which is the decision maker that understands the consequences of its behavior, is not talking to the impulse part of your brain, the fight or flight part of your brain, the pleasure-seeking part of your brain.
Mark Hyman
If a foreign nation was doing to our kids what the food industry is and our government is through its policies, you know, we'd go to war to protect our kids.
Mark Hyman
It's not that we have too many cows, it's how we're growing.
Mark Hyman
If it was grown on landmass, it would require the entire country of China to grow all that food that we throw out.
Mark Hyman
I always say eat weird food.
Mark Hyman
1 Protocols
The 5R Program for Addressing Gut Dysfunction
Mark Hyman- Remove: Eliminate problematic foods (e.g., gluten, dairy, grains for some), bad bugs (parasites, bacterial overgrowth, yeast overgrowth).
- Replace: Provide missing elements like fiber, prebiotics, enzymes, and other necessary supports, sometimes through food, sometimes through supplements.
- Re-inoculate: Introduce beneficial probiotics through fermented foods or probiotic supplements.
- Repair: Supply nutrients needed for gut healing, such as glutamine, vitamin A, fish oil, butyrate, and polyphenols.
- Restore: Address nervous system balance and stress levels, as stress can contribute to leaky gut.